Organizational scholars have traditionally predicted human behavior in
organizations by drawing on either individual or contextual variables (LePine & Van
Dyne, 1998). Likewise, the employee voice literature can be divided into two broad
streams focusing on a) individual factors (individual differences in voice behavior) and b)
contextual factors (the organizational conditions that facilitate or inhibit voice behavior)
as correlates of employee voice. The basic theme in the existing literature on employee
voice is related to the factors that enable employees to make constructive suggestions and
express their ideas freely about organizational issues. Detert and Burris (2007) stated that
the most systemic research to date has focused on individual differences as correlates of
voice (LePine & Van Dyne, 2001). Detert and Burris noted that the logic behind this line
of work is that “some individuals are simply more likely than others to ‘go the extra mile’
in regard to speaking up” (p. 869). Many studies have explored the influence of
individual differences on employee voice behavior. For example, LePine and Van Dyne
(2001) suggested that conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness are
related to voice behavior. Avery (2003) examined the effects of a five-factor dimension
and core self-evaluations on self-reported voice behavior, and identified that self-efficacy
and extraversion predicted voice behavior. More recently, Nikolaou et al. (2008) found
that two personality characteristics (emotional stability and conscientiousness) are
significantly associated with employees’ voice behavior towards their immediate
supervisor, but not towards the top management of the company.